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F. S. MUNRO. IN BOOK, ASSAILS
"LEGISLATIVE SPENDTHRIFTS"
The magnifying glass is put upon
the records of many Illinois officials
in a book entitled "Legislative
Spendthrifts," compiled and edited
by Fayette S. Munro of Highland
,'i .ranc, running ior nommauon ior ac
& tornev sreneral. Mr. Munro relies for
his facts and information upon the
records in the Fergus suits wherein
he acted as chief counsel. In his
book he draws the moral that, in Illi
nois, by reason of the supreme court
placing the office of attorney general
on a broader basis, "an aggressive,
courageous attorney general can
stop the waste of public money."
In a chapter on traveling expenses
several senators, notably Messrs.
Swanson, Gorman, Broderick and
Herlihy, are charged with taking
trips at the state's expense, whereas
they also at the same time were in
Springfield voting.
In a chapter on payroll padding,
the mythical janitors and clerks who
were absent but still drawing healthy
salaries are dealt with. One record
charges Seri. Ettelson, now corpora
tion counsel of Chicago, presenting a
resolution for back pay to an "em
ployes," who, since then, has testi
fied he performed no state service at
all during the time mentioned in Et
telson's resolution.
.Taking up the "famous" resolu
tions 76 and 77, the book's records
reveal that the one resolution -created
the Baldwin committee and the
other conferred upon Lieut. Gov.
O'Hara the right to hire an office in
Chicago at the state's expense. Rec
ords are quoted to show that Sen.
Ettelson, who was recorded as pre
senting Resolution 76, was not in
Springfield when that piece Of legis
lation was supposed to be coming
from him and, of the same kind of
mystery, that Sen. Curtis, who was
charged by the records as. presenting
Resolution 77, testified he did not in
troduce it at all. t
The mileage bill is. linked with
anti-pass legislation matter and also
with a chapter entitled: "Let the
Boys Have IL" In this last chapter
Mr. Munro details an interview with
-Gov. Dunne in which Munro protest
ed against the passage of the mileage
bill. The governor told Mr. Munro
that although the bill might be un
constitutional, he had decided to "let
the boys have ft."
One of the bills which the book
says was introduced in the general
assembly by Rep. Dudgeon is inter
esting. It showed that Jas. Ankhurst
was at one time the owner of a canal
boat. Through the negligence of the
state the boat was sunk. It was val
ued at $1,289.96. It seems the boat
was loaded with corn which had a
value of $3,206, but the appropria
tion requested was $16,905. The ap
parent mscrepancy between tne sum
total of these amounts is due to the
fact that this lamentable accident
happened on May 12, 1866, arid the,
difference is arrived at by charging
interest at the rate of 6 per cent
BUENOS AIRES SHIVERS WHILE
NORTH AMERICA MELTS
Buenos Aires, Brazil, Aug. 21.
Buenos Aires, which generally haa a
mild winter climate, is experiencing
coldest weather in 50 years. Coal is
$40 a ton and fuel so hard to get
that most landlords are not heating
houses.
U-BOATS SINK CRUISERS
London, Aug. 21. Nottingham
and Falmouth, two light British
cruisers, sunk Saturday in North
sea by German submarines. One
German submarine was sunk.
The Nottingham was of 5,400 tons
"and the Falmouth of 5,250 tons. AH
but 38 of'crews reported saved.
THAT SETTLES IT
The Punkintown .Literary society
has decided that Bacon wrote
Shakespeare's plays because some of
the language in them is so impolite
that Shakespeare would have been
I too much Qt a gentleman to use i.
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